1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a developer storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image forming apparatus is an apparatus that prints an image on a printing medium according to an input image signal. An image forming apparatus is classified as a printer, a copying machine, a fax machine, a multi-function printer which has multiple functions of printing, scanning, copying and faxing, and the like.
A particular type of image forming apparatus, for example an electrophotographic type image forming apparatus, includes a photosensitive body, a laser scanning unit and a developing unit. The laser scanning unit scans light to the photosensitive body charged to a predetermined electric potential to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive body. The developing unit supplies a developer to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image.
The visible image formed on the photosensitive body is directly transferred onto a printing medium, or is transferred onto a printing medium via an intermediate transfer unit. The image transferred onto the printing medium is fused to the printing medium through a fusing process.
In the printing operation, the visible image on the photosensitive body is not totally transferred onto the printing medium or the intermediate transfer unit. A portion of the developer remains on the photosensitive body. The residual developer on the photosensitive body is removed by a cleaning device, and is stored in a waste developer storage container.
A new developer, which is to be supplied to the photosensitive body, is stored in the developing unit, and a waste developer collected from the photosensitive body is stored in the waste developer storage container. Thus, both the developing unit and the waste developer storage container correspond to a developer storage device.
In order to store a sufficient amount of developer, the developer storage device should have a large capacity. However, the large capacity of the developer storage device results in difficulty in manufacturing a compact image forming apparatus.
In this regard, the developer storage device is designed so that an inner space of the image forming apparatus can be utilized as efficiently as possible. That is, the shape and structure of the developer storage device are adequately determined, depending upon arrangement of other components in the image forming apparatus.
A developer conveying member may be mounted inside the developer storage device to convey the developer to a predetermined target position. In order to effectively convey the developer so as to be evenly loaded in the developer storage device, the developer conveying member should be designed adequately to correspond to the shape and structure of the developer storage device.